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Middle Ages (500 A. D. – 1300 A. D.)

Middle ages in time, spans a period that began about 500 A. D. The earlier period sketches the rise of Western Civilization, the civilization that flourished in the countries of western Europe and later in the countries of the New World. The Middle Ages, was a period when the barbarians of northern Europe were establishing themselves throughout the former Roman Empire which they had wrecked and overrun. The period ended with the rebirth of interest in Greco-Roman civilization that later became the Renaissance.

During the first 500 years of this period the lamp of learning burned low, but the Christian Church and feudalism kept the flame alive. The doctrines and practices of the Church, with its centre at Rome, were the major unifying forces in western Europe and in restoring some of the law and order that had characterized the Roman Empire. Feudalism was likewise a formidable force for maintaining law and order while the Roman and Germanic cultures were being blended. Based on landholding and supported by serf labour, feudalism furnished the basic pattern of life in the Middle Ages.

The Middle Ages witnessed the rise and spread of a powerful rival to Christianity, the Moslem religion and culture. The crusades, staged to combat the influence of the Moslems in the Holy Land, failed to restore Palestine to the Christians, but they made Europeans aware of the superior material civilization that had been developing in the Far East, while Europe struggled. India and China, but especially China, were far more advanced than Europe in such material comforts as beautiful clothing, fine dishes and attractive foods. The crusaders, returning to their homes in Europe, helped to spread in the West the superior standard of life enjoyed by the wealthy in the East.

During the thousand years of this period, various peoples strove to evolve forms of government suited to their needs. Through a long series of faltering steps, attended by wars and other setbacks, the English gradually developed a pattern of representative government, that became our heritage and ultimately influenced the forms of government adopted by many of the other emerging nations. By the end of the period, England, France and Spain had emerged as nation-states, Germany and Italy, on the other hand, existed as geographic regions on the map, but they did not become nations until the nineteenth century.

500 A.D.

c. 500 – Catholic Church supplants Roman Empire

527 – Justinian begins reign in Constantinople

c. 618 – T’ang Dynasty begins in China 622 – The Hegira of Mohammed

700 A.D.

c 711 – Arab Moslems enter India

732 – Moslems defeated at Battle of Tours—France

800 – Charlemagne crowned emperor in Rome

843 – Treaty of Verdun divides Charlemagnes empire in France

900 A.D.

c. 900 – Feudalism supreme in Europe

962 – Otto of Saxony crowned Holy Roman Emperor — Rome

c. 1050 – Rapid development of towns in Europe

1066 – Battle of Hastings — England

2095 – Council of Clermont instituted the crusades in France

1100 A.D.

c. 1133 – Legal reforms of Henry II in England

c. 1192 – Origin of shogunate rule in Japan

c. 1200 – Development of universities in Europe

1215 – Magna Carta signed by King John — England

c. 1259 – Kublai Khan rules China

1295 – Edward I calls model Parliament — England

1300 A.D.

1394 – 1460 – Henry the Navigator — Portugal

c. 1397 – Delhi looted by Tamerlane — India

1453 – Constantinople taken by the Ottoman Turks

c. 1454 – Gutenberg Bible printed in Germany

1492 – Columbus found the New World

1498 – Vasco da Gama reached India

Medieval East

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Medieval East includes the spread of Islam, medieval India, medieval China, medieval Japan, the Mongols and Eastern Europe – the developments that took place in India, China, Japan and other parts of the East during the medieval period. When we turn our attention from Europe to Asia, we are obviously moving into a much larger and more complicated theatre of events. We encounter large masses of people of dissimilar language, race and culture, separated from one another to a great extent by more impassable geographical barriers, than exist in Europe. In comparing or contrasting the progress of civilization in Asia …

Medieval Culture

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Medieval Culture – in surveying man’s achievements during the Middle Ages – is another example of man’s ability to rebuild his culture after disaster and destruction. The new culture that ultimately emerged was made up of the remnants of the old, contributions from other peoples, new inventions and discoveries. In reviewing the reasons why trade and commerce dwindled in the period between 476 and 1000 A. D., then describes some of the favourable changes that took place in western Europe, as towns and cities were re-established in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. We see the contributions of this latter period …

European Nations Evolve

Middle Ages (500 A. D. – 1300 A. D.) 71

European nations preserved to keep the continent from chaos. In the troubled days of invasion and disorder that followed the collapse of the Roman Empire, the feudal system had served a purpose in western Europe. Enough order and security had been preserved, to keep the continent from chaos. After a time, a new type of political organization, unlike any previously known, began to develop around some of the kings of western Europe. Ultimately this would be the nation-state, but during this period, kings were busy developing a strong central government, defining the boundaries of their holdings and giving their people …

Feudalism in Western Europe

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Feudalism – centuries of groping and experimentation to restore law and order in Europe and to develop forms of centralized government – after the security provided by Roman law and administration had been ruptured by the Germanic invasions. Barbarian chieftains had little training in political administration. The Romans lacked the money to finance the machinery of large-scale government and to train government workers. Craftsmen did not even have the skill to rebuild roads, bridges and aqueducts. This tells us how culture declined to a subsistence level during the period from 500 to 1000 A. D. Many people lived and were …

Religions Militant in the Middle Ages

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Religions militant, gives an account of the wars of religion, which we call the crusades. During the Middle Ages, the followers of two great present-day religions, Christianity and Islam, continued to spread the influence of these religions over vast territories and among many peoples. The story of the extension of these religions, will observe that ideas are dynamic — they embody a divine energy that influences the lives of people. A person who is dedicated to his ideas wants others fo accept those ideas and thereby experience the advantages and satisfactions that he has experienced. Many individual Christians and Moslems …